Last night Dawkins spoke to a packed auditorium of 2,500 (apparently a last ticket sold on Trade Me yesterday for $132 – though I know of at least one student who snuck in for free). It was an audience of mainly supporters – Dawkins received a standing ovation at the end – and there was almost nothing in the way of heckling. Outside there were a few protestors and the handing out of a “special” edition of the Origin of Species with a “Creationist” introduction.
Dawkins was amusing and informative covering chemistry, biology, plate tectonics, and even tried answering a question on quantum physics before good-humouredly admitting defeat. His subject was the chance events that brought us here; from living in a universe in which planets exist, from the chance event that allowed life to begin on Earth, to the good luck of each of our ancestors surviving and having offspring, to the chance meeting of the particular sperm and egg that made us.
He then suggested that our desire to want to give gratitude for our good luck was an evolutionary hang over from the time our ancestors lived in small social groups and kept account of who owed who what before the invention of money. Thus, feeling gratitude was a good way of remembering who was nice and who was not. Being able to do this improved the fitness of individuals as they would “do better” in their dealings with others and pass on their “gratitude” genes to their offspring.
Although, Dawkins was speaking about his book the Greatest Show on Earth much of the audience were there to hear his views purported in the more controversial The God Delusion. Yet his answer on how to reverse the apparent decline in rational thinking and belief in omnipotent beings was: more religious education! But an education that teaches about all the different world religions and philosophies rather than one that indoctrinates into a particular version.
Despite Dawkins desire to educate the young, I was particularly struck by the advanced age of the audience, there were some university students, many middle-aged, and a surprisingly (to me anyway) large number of older adults too. What was missing were the younger generation – it seemed no one had thought to bring along their interested teenager (Perhaps there are no interested teenagers). Yet, Dawkins would be a wonderful and easy introduction for a bright teen to evolution, rational argument and how scientists think. Some other good titles for the teen (or adult) who just might be interested in science:
- Bad Science – Ben Goldacre
- Falling for Science – Bernard Beckett
- Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion – Noah Goldstein
- The Drunkard’s Walk – Leonard Mlodinow
- The Selfish Gene – Richard Dawkins
- The Richness of Life – Stephen Jay Gould
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Interesting point about the age of the audience, maybe we become more interested about these big questions as we get older…and dare I say it closer to death!!
Sounds like a great session, Alice. That’s interesting about the evolutionary hang-over from when we lived in small groups – I read a similar idea in a marvellous wee book I See Rude People by Amy Alkon. I think Alkon may have been making a different point to Dawkins though.
15 years ago *eek* (that long?) I was one of a packed auditorium of A-level students in London listening to Richard Dawkins. I can confirm that we were hooked 🙂
(and ironically, I was also a teen who loved learning about other religions, and ended up choosing none, haha)